Suspected Maoists triggered an IED blast to damage a portion of BJP election office at Seraikela-Kharswan district on Friday. Though no one was injured in the blast, the banned ultras made their presence felt in the Naxal infested area.
Though preliminary reports suggest it to be a Maoist-sponsored blast, but the police are keeping a conspiracy angle by the rival political group is also open for the investigation.The BJP election office, housed on the ground floor of a double-storeyed building was damaged as the suspected rebels had set an IED in the single-room party office. A portion of the wall behind the room was blown up.
Superintendent of Police, Chandan Kumar Sinha said that as per their investigation four armed men came to the party office at Kharswan early morning and dragged out three persons sleeping inside the building before planting an IED.
When questioned whether Maoists were involved in the incident, the Sinha said as per their initial probe the way blast was triggered indicates the involvement of the Maoists. A police team rushed to the spot to investigate the incident.
Kharswan falls under Khunti Parliamentary seat, from where former Chief Minister and BJP leader Arjun Munda is contesting the May 6 Lok Sabha polls.
Arjun Munda came to know about the blast from Vijay Ray, the owner of the building where the BJP has set up the election office. Ray, also a resident of Ranchi had informed Munda at about 1 am about the incident.
Khunti parliamentary constituency, reserved for members of Scheduled Tribes covers the districts of Khunti and Simdega and portions of the Ranchi and Seraikela Kharsawan districts. The constituency has six assembly segments, Kharsawan, Tamar, Topa, Khunti, Kolebira and Simdega, which are also reserved for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.
Khunti has become one of Jharkhand’s high profile parliamentary constituencies after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded Arjun Munda by dropping its eight-term sitting member of Parliament Karia Munda. Meanwhile the administration has increased police patrolling on the bordering areas connecting to West Bengal and has also deployed adequate number of paramilitary personnel on areas potential to rebels attack.
“Every effort will be made to maintain law and order and to ensure security of the people. This time all security forces have also been alerted to remain vigilant, particularly against IEDs and landmines," said another official.
Sources informed that the mobility of the police has prevented the extremists from carrying out any violent activity in past few days in the entire Kolhan. All the police stations in the three districts of the division including East and West Singhbhum and Seraikela Kharswan have been asked to beef up the security and keep a vigil at the bordering areas.